THE REFUGEES AND THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE EU STATES: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

• Main Author: Laura DIACONU (MAXIM)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi 2015-12-01
• Series: CES Working Papers
• Subjects: refugees; migration; Arab region; EU states; economic growth
• Online Access: http://www.ceswp.uaic.ro/articles/CESWP2015_VII4_DIA.pdf

Nowadays, one of the major concerns of the EU leaders is how to cope with the large inflows of refugees that are coming from the Arab region, because of the prolonged conflicts and civil wars. While some EU leaders consider that this is a humanitarian crisis and the member states should act accordingly, others consider that these people are migrants and not refugees. From the economic perspective, the opinions are also divided. Some analysts see this large influx of refugees as an opportunity for the economic and social environment, while others consider that the refugees can negatively influence the well-being of the host countries. In the present paper we investigate the impact of the refugees’ inflows on the economic growth and development of the EU countries. In order to reach this purpose, our arguments are based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the specialised literature and of the empirical investigations.